


Spellbound Wanderers

by foucqre



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz, Be More Chill - Ned Vizinni
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, M/M, More characters to be added, don't take this too seriously guys, squip squad, this is mostly indulgent crap
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-28
Updated: 2019-03-22
Packaged: 2019-10-22 08:04:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17659085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foucqre/pseuds/foucqre
Summary: When Jeremy Heere made bad decisions, he damn well made the worst ones possible. No one is really surprised when he gets himself bound to a god.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> the squipemy fandom didn't have a fantasy au so here is what i have to offer

"You're a pathetic looking one, aren't you?"

 _Great_ , Jeremy thought, _I'm dead and this god is an asshole_. Wherever he was, it felt like hell; the burning sensation near his ribs the only indication he was probably still alive. He pressed a hand to his torso and it came away slick with blood. Okay, so, not dead, but injured- he took stock of the unfamiliar cavern all around him- and lost. 

He tried to get up, bracing a hand against the wall he was propped against, and did his best not to keel over. His body was screaming at him to lie the fuck back down, but he managed to get both of his feet beneath him. It's progress, but he still needed to take a moment to gather his strength. 

He'd just gotten up the energy to move when the voice speaks again. "What are you doing here, mortal?"

Jeremy didn't say anything- as if he could afford to waste his breath arguing with an imaginary voice anyway. Still, it posed a good question. He tried to remember how he got here, of all places. There was a quest, he thinks. A quest, him, his knight, and a dragon. (he was still working out exactly why he had a dragon with him). So far so good. They were going to retrieve _something_ , he remembered, but the details elude him. What were they looking for? It was probably important, if they were sending a prince. 

He shot up straight, and groaned at the pain that followed the abrupt movement. That's right! He still had a kingdom to get back to. Oh gods, what if he got stuck here forever and died? His father would surely kill him.

Jeremy knew that they got to a temple, he and his two companions. Had it been the correct temple? Hopefully. There was no way of actually knowing until they actually retrieved whatever it was or died trying. They entered anyway, the red knight going in first to check for traps. Jeremy went over to this door carved in the image of an angel or something. In arguably the worst decision of his life at that point, he touched it.

His fingers just barely grazed the thing, Jeremy would argue, and he'd be right. Still, it was enough to trigger the trap door into swinging open beneath him. He had just enough time and presence of mind to think "shit", which is exactly what his companions were yelling as they saw him plunge into the dark.

He was falling, falling, and suddenly he wasn't. A sharp rock had likely broken his fall and at least one of his ribs. Ah, so that's why it felt like he was inhaling glass shards. 

The disembodied voice didn't seem to like Jeremy's continued silence. Which, honestly, rude because even breathing was a challenfe at this point. "People came before you came to me for favours all the time. Is that why you're here?" Almost desperately, it added, "I could help, you know."

Jeremy did not have the brain power to wonder why an imaginary voice was so keen on his well-being. Instead he asked, "what price?" His voice was scratchy and his throat ached, but he wasn't coughing up blood, at least.

The offer made him hesitate. He'd heard those stories before. They were always the same; some nameless underdog explorer going from dirt poor to filthy rich. They never mention it outright but they always did credit their successes to "forces beyond the mortal coil". More mysteriously, they always seemed to end up dead in the span of a few years. Lucky ones got a few more, but they all bit it in the end. Still, he didn't really have much of a choice. An injured body and addled mind did not bode well for someone looking to survive. 

"Nothing you'll regret too much," it replied. The last words were especially concerning, and Jeremy felt a cold terror crawling onto his skin. "I'm just kidding," and it had the audacity to laugh, which did little to reassure anyone's nerves. "I'll heal you and lead you out but I need something that you can worry about later later. Right now, just try to find a pedestal with carved markings and drop some blood on it."

The blood was easy enough. The hand wrapped around his torso had gathered more than enough for a few drops. Now he just needed to find the pedestal. It took some stumbling around, but he found the pedestal off to the left of where he originally woke up.

 _Here goes nothing_. Jeremy pressed his bloodied hand onto what felt like the central carving in the pedestal. For a second, nothing happened and he feared that he picked the wrong pedestal. What if this was the pedestal for child sacrifice, or something? A few more moments trickled by and he was just about to pull away when it began to glow. The light welled up from the stone pedestal and spread to the rest of the cavern. For the first time, he could see it illuminated and found it to be the ruins of some temple. The pedestal seemed to be the only thing saved from whatever ravaged the place. 

There wasn't any indication as to who exactly this temple worshiped. The tapestries that could have provided a clue were shredded beyond recognition. Jeremy hoped to all the gods that he hadn't just agreed to a blood oath with some demonic eldritch being. He really should have thought this through. Still, there was no going back now.

The light went from illuminating to blinding in the span of five seconds. Jeremy clenched his eyes shut but the light seeped into his eyes anyway, as though it was coming from inside himself. Pain bloomed in his head. It grew in intensity as the light continued to burn brighter. He let out a pained scream as the pounding in his head threatened to crack his skull wide open.

The light, and the pain, began to fade just as Jeremy felt like he would pass out again. At some point, he had slid to the floor and now found himself sprawled on the ground, clutching at himself. He didn't feel much different, aside from the distant roar in his head. His wound was still there and he didn't feel any less lost than he was before. Great. What a rip-off.

Movement in his peripheral vision caught his eye. The light was gone but he could have sworn he saw another figure in the dark cave. He turned and saw the glowing blue form of something or... someone. He was pretty sure it was human, but he also felt that it was likely that he was hallucinating.

The figure didn't seem to notice him yet, instead taking in its surroundings as it did a slow turn. Finally, its eyes landed on Jeremy, sprawled on the floor, breathing sharply and barely clinging on to his consciousness.

"Well," it said, voice sounding more corporeal than it did before, "I suppose a deal is a deal. Here." It snapped its fingers and immediately Jeremy felt the pain ebb. The growing feeling of ease made his eyes droop lower and suddenly consciousness was a thing of the past.


	2. Chapter 2

Jeremy felt like he was really getting the hang of this whole waking-up-in-an-unfamiliar-place thing. This time, he actually remembered most of what lead to him getting knocked out. He just wasn’t entirely sure which parts were real and which parts were things his subconscious dreamt up just to fuck with him.

He was sprawled on the floor of somewhere, he was sure of that at least. Wherever it was, it was much brighter than any cave had a right to be. He tried to look around him but particularly vengeful rays of sunlight stabbed at his eyes. He opened them gingerly, pleased to find that the world was only mildly spinning now. He really _was_ out of the ruins in the cavern, in a clearing not far from the mouth of a cave. This bright, dizzying sunlight could only mean that whatever it was in the cave probably helped him out. Somehow.

Jeremy didn’t quite have it in himself to get up just yet. Grunting, he settled for rolling over to inspect the wound- or where it was supposed to be- on his torso. His searching fingers instead found the ripped edges of his shirt stained with dried blood, the flesh beneath scarred but whole.

_Holy shit that meant-_

“Yes.” It was the figure from the cave, standing where it hadn’t been only moments before. Its glow was diminished in the sunlight, but Jeremy could still make out the outline of a young-ish man. Said man wore his hair and clothes long, in a style that Jeremy could only describe as _chic hermit_.

“Thanks- uh,” he hesitated. It was weird enough calling it ‘the figure’ in his head, Jeremy couldn’t say it to _his face_. “I didn’t catch your name.”

“I didn’t throw it.” The figure- whoever it was- grinned.  “Call me Squip. And don’t bother thanking me, it’s just what I promised.” It- he- gave Jeremy a meaningful look and added, “we had a deal.”

“Ah- yes. A deal.” Jeremy sat up quickly, turning serious. He had sudden flashbacks to ruined altars, bleeding lungs, and sworn promises. For perhaps the first time, he considered and reconsidered exactly what he got himself into. A deal with the devil himself, probably, considering his luck. Jeremy had a passing thought that now might be an appropriate time to be feeling soul-crushing regret, but a weak self-pity was all he could manage at the moment. “You said you needed-”

“JEREMY!” That was all the warning he had before a red, metallic blur threw appeared out of nowhere and launched itself at him. Luckily, he was already on the ground before the assault. It might have been more painful if he’d been standing up. “Oh gods, you’re alive you _asshole-_ ”

“Michael, you’ll kill His Royal Highness if he wasn’t dead already." A cloaked someone made their way to where Michael still sat with Jeremy.

“Hey Rich,” Jeremy managed to get out from where his guard-slash-best friend had him in a bone-crushing chokehold of a hug. “And- Mike- armour,” he added. This reminded Michael that armour- even light- dug uncomfortably into the un-armoured skin of the person you were hugging.

Squip didn’t say anything. He just observed with blatant ( _and sadistic_ , Jeremy thought) amusement as Jeremy got his ear talked off on why a prince was supposed to _avoid_ danger, avoid endangering his royal self, and as much as possible avoid doing a stupid thing. Michael went on for another six minutes on how it was his job to do the stupid dangerous thing, not Jeremy’s. This was the fourth time this week that Jeremy had been subjected to one of Michael’s speeches. He weathered it with the look of a man who knew it was better to let the storm blow over instead of further antagonizing it with excuses.

Rich didn’t have much to contribute, other than the fact that they still hadn’t found the artifact they were looking for. “Or that time is running out,” he added.

 

* * *

 

Squip didn’t know what the fuck they were looking for or even why it would be so important. None of the humans mentioned it, and it seemed even Jeremy forgot about him in the presence of his companions. That wouldn’t do.

“Jeremy.” Squip planted himself right in front of the brunet, where he couldn’t be ignored. Jeremy started and looked up in surprise, since he did in fact momentarily forget about the entity that he had bound himself to. Tilting his head down to look him in the eye, Squip asked, “what are you looking for?”

“Oh, uh- you see, there’s this crystal and it can- uh cure things. Whatever’s ailing you it’s- it can fix.” There was more to this, Squip sensed, but he knew it’d be easier to learn that later. “What?” This last question was to Michael and Rich who had fallen silent and were looking at Jeremy with growing concern and confusion.

“Jer- um, your Highness. Who’re you talking to?”

“What do you mean?” Now Jeremy was concerned. Michael only remembered to use Jeremy’s title when he was really worried. “He’s right there?” He gestured to Michael’s left where Squip was lounging on a patch of moss. Michael carefully scanned the area his friend indicated, in case there was a threat. His eyes slid unknowingly right past Squip’s glowing form. Michael just looked more confused.

Rich gave Jeremy a friendly knock on the head. “Hit your head a bit too hard, buddy. Let’s get you home.” They gathered themselves and stood up, but Jeremy still wouldn't let it go.

“No, look,” he said as he grabbed Michael’s arm and dragged him over to where Squip was calmly watching Jeremy’s nervous breakdown. Bastard. “He’s right there.” He patted Squip's arm for good measure.

All Michael saw was his probably injured friend speaking and gesturing wildly to thin air. “Maybe we should just,” he was interrupted by a frustrated sound from Jeremy.

“Can they really not see you?” Michael saw Jeremy ask the air in front of them.

“No. The short explanation is that I am bound to you, and therefore only you can see me. The full explanation would take more time than you can spare right now.” He was right. Of course he was.

As if hearing what Squip said, Rich suddenly pricked up his ears and gave Michael a nod. “There's a pack of bandits a mile away” Michael’s face turned grave as Rich turned to Jeremy. "We need to go. Now."

On their way back to where they left their horses, Michael gave Jeremy one last concerned glance.  “Are you really alright?”

Jeremy could only give his friend a tired look before saying, “I’ll explain on the road.”


	3. Chapter 3

 It turned out that the bandits weren't targeting them, so they were able to safely return to where Rich had hidden their horses earlier. On the ride back, Jeremy told them about what happened in the cave. Most of it, anyway. Michael nearly fell off his horse out of shock, even though Jeremy did his best to tone down some of the more outrageous parts.

 "You know how I always call your ideas stupid? Yeah, that again but this time it's worse." This was rich coming from Rich, of all people.

"What, and you agreed to all that?" Michael asked as soon as he got his horse under control again. He was incredulous and he had every right to be. "That deal just reeked of bullshit." He belatedly added, "your Highness."

"Well, first of all, language, and anyway it was either that or you know, bleeding out in a forgotten cave somewhere," replied Jeremy. These were _his_ bad decisions and he will stand by them, damn it. Besides, what did Michael expect him to do? "It was a life or death thing."

"Yeah, but still," interrupted Rich, "couldn't you, like, I don't know, set some ground rules _before_ selling your soul to the attractive demon/ghost/god or whatever?" Squip snorted at this from where he floated nearby in Jeremy's peripheral vision. The young prince resolutely ignored him. When had he said anything about _attractiveness_? "I get that you're impulsive but this is a whole new level for you, sire."

"Bold words, coming from a dragon shifter."

"That's a stereotype."

"Rich,” Jeremy deadpanned, “I've seen you travel two towns over just because Michael was craving caramel when we had a sugar shortage."

"That- that's not fair,"Rich sputtered, his skin turning a shade darker.

"You didn't tell me they were from two towns over! You seriously didn't have to!"

"Babe- look-"

These were the people he trusted with his life. Jeremy grinned at the thought. He was going to have to put up with this for another day's ride to get back to their castle. Compared to whatever he went through in that cave, he'd much rather put up with this. He remained silent for the rest of the ride, letting the couple's bickering fill the empty air.

The sun was still in the sky when they returned to the castle. The party parted ways soon after their arrival, with Michael and Rich going off to find something to eat. Jeremy wouldn't say that he “stormed off and sulked in his room” as soon as they got back to the castle, but only because he was a prince that would be undignified. His father still needed to know what became of their outing. As soon as a groom took care of their horses, the prince went off to look for his father and he was informed by a servant that his father was busy with the affairs of state. Well, Jeremy supposed that he could always talk to his father at dinner.

 

* * *

 

“You pulled off that dramatic cape flip pretty well, I'd say.” They were both in Jeremy's room to unwind after the quest. Said cape flip was due to Jeremy turning his back abruptly after he ran into someone he'd rather not talk about.

 “Shut up,” Jeremy mumbled from his bed, where he was most definitely not sulking. Squip knew that the stubborn prince wouldn't likely answer questions regarding whatever happened in the throne room. Instead, he was curious about the artifact Jeremy mentioned earlier. “You probably guessed that the stupid artifact we were looking for was for my mom,” Jeremy replied, as though he voiced his thoughts out loud. At his confused look, Jeremy went on to say, “maybe this telepathic thing goes both ways, huh.”

 “That thought concerns me, but it can be addressed later.” Squip's form was sitting on the dresser opposite Jeremy's bed. When Jeremy didn't seem inclined to reply, he prompted, “you were talking about the artifact?”

 “Oh yeah, um, that. Like I said, it heals whatever ails you, but there's only a few of them around and they can only be used a limited number of times.” Jeremy burrowed further into his pillows before adding, “and the temple we found you in was the ninth one we checked this week. In short, we've accomplished nothing so far.” Then he straightened up, recalling something was bothering him. “Oh yeah, which god are you?”

 “Excuse me?” Squip looked totally caught off-guard.

 “I mean, we _did_ meet in, like, an abandoned temple, remember. Wait, are you a demon? That would probably make more sense.” Jeremy pulled a pensive face, thinking back to what happened in the cave. “You did make me agree to a blood oath, after all-”

 “No!” Somehow it looked like his form was glowing brighter than usual. “I'm not either! I'm... not entirely sure what I am, exactly, but it's closer to a spirit than anything. I don't remember much of my past but I'm certain I was a human at some point.” After a pause, he added, “yes I'm sure of it. I was an apprentice of the last great Wizard-”

 “Wait, you mean the Wizard Abraxas who supposedly gained immortality?” Squip quirked his eyebrow at him, so he added, “I was researching possible ways to cure my mother, and his name popped up a bunch of times. Too bad his research was lost or something.”

 “Isn't that convenient,” Squip replied, but it looked like he was considering something else. He was silent for a while, the wheels in his head turning. “I have a proposal,” he finally said. When Jeremy didn't immediately object, he continued. “Remember the deal we had? I'd like to call in the… favour you owe me.”

 Jeremy gulped. His mind raced through several possibilities, none of them ending well for him. _Holy shit wh-_

 “Calm down, it's nothing too unsavoury. I just need you to go on a quest for me.” At Jeremy's hesitant look, he added, “and, believe it or not, this might help your mother too.” This time the prince looked ready to agree to whatever it was he suggested. That got his attention fast, Squip noted.

 “I'm listening,” said Jeremy in a tone that suggested that he really wished he wasn't.

 “Remember how you were looking for ways to cure your mother? Well, I'll help you find Abraxas's research.” Clearly, this wasn't what Jeremy was expecting, if his widened eyes and gaping mouth were anything to go by. “I don't know if you can tell, but I lack a physical body at the moment. So you,” he stuck his glowing finger into Jeremy's chest, “are helping me acquire one.”Belatedly, he wondered how the Squip had moved so quickly beside him. 

 “I'm not helping you murder someone! And how does that relate to my mom?!”

 “There needn't be murder involved, Highness. Look, you're not exactly making progress on those stone-”

 “Crystal.”

 “-artifacts, and those research notes could probably help you. And you'll help me find my body, or at least some clue as to what happened to it.” He looked down at his shimmering form, flexing his translucent fingers. “I'm still not entirely sure how I ended up like this.”

 Jeremy had been waiting for the other shoe to drop ever since he agreed to that deal in the cave. He supposed that it was for the best that it came sooner rather than later. Still, a quest to find someone's probably-dead body was a lot to ask of someone; then again, a magic cure for your dying mother is probably a lot to ask of someone, too. But how long would his mother last, if he didn't find a cure soon?

 “If I agree to this, I wouldn't need to draw any blood, would I?” This drew a chuckle from Squip. His form flickered and suddenly he was standing (floating?) right there in front of Jeremy.

“Nothing of the sort, dear Prince. Just accomplish this quest and I'll consider our deal done,” said Squip, with an outstretched hand and an expectant look.

 Somehow, Jeremy thought, he was back here again; desperate and ready to make a deal with this… creature. _How could this be my life?_ Still, he already knew what his answer was. He only hoped he wouldn't regret it, or at least live to regret it.  Jeremy took the offered hand and shook it twice, firmly. Squip grinned, something twinkling in his eye, as he shook Jeremy's hand just as firmly. Vaguely, Jeremy wondered just how fucked he was.

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SURPRISE I'M NOT DEAD  
> let's just say that ace attorney and reviewing for college entrance tests have taken over my life atm  
> so fair warning upcoming updates will likely be irregular

**Author's Note:**

> Go yell at me on tumblr: silver-parseltongues.tumblr.com


End file.
